China aids DPRK port development

Seoul: China plans to invest around US$10bn in North Korea to build railways, port facilities and housing, Seoul's Yonhap news agency has reported.
Yonhap said that several state-run Chinese banks and other multinational companies would sign an agreement on the massive infrastructure investment with officials from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) State Development Bank next month.
It claimed that the decision was made during meetings between Chinese Communist Party international secretary Wang Jiarui, who visited the DPRK earlier this month, and Pyongyang's official Korea Taepung International Investment Group.
More than 60 per cent of the investment would come from the Chinese banks, Yonhap reported, citing an unidentified source it described as "knowledgeable" about the situation at the state investment agency.
The planned investments will be made in projects to build railways, port facilities and 100,000 houses for Pyongyang residents, according to the sources, who were quoted as saying that the DPRK "believes it would not violate United Nations sanctions to attract foreign capital through the group and the bank."
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the report. South Korean officials were not available for comment.
Last month, the DPRK announced that it would establish the development bank to attract foreign investment.
Authorities tasked the Taepung group with handling negotiations with foreign investors. [16/02/10]

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